RE: DB Commission responds to citizen comment

Dear Editor:

The City Commission does not routinely issue a formal public
response to citizen input made during Commission meetings. However,
there are times when such input is so outrageous that the
Commission has no choice but to respond.
At the Commission meeting on Tuesday, March 20, a former city
elected official made remarks that necessitate a formal response. We
will respond to the defamatory allegations, outright misinformation,
and flawed conclusions in the order they were presented.
Input 1
“At the Feb.21 meeting, the Commission made quite a fuss over
the retirement of Carl Peter. The truth is, he should have retired
three years ago. When Larry Deetjen brought Carl from Michigan,
it was with the understanding that Carl would retire after five
years at age 62. Deetjen wasn’t here when Carl reached 62. I called
the agreement to the attention of the powers that be, and was told
that since the agreement was not in writing, it held no water…How
come Burgess Hanson, who was Deetjen’s assistant at the time,
didn’t know? Peter wanted to stay until he was 65 so the City could
continue paying his health insurance. Although his position and
duties were vastly diminished, during those last three years, his
salary was not. Whatever happened to honor among thieves?”
RESPONSE:
The recruitment and selection process for Carl Peter, P.E., was
spearheaded by a former City Human Resources Director and the
Assistant to the City Manager. There were candidates from Illinois,
Massachusetts, Florida, etc. An interview panel of department directors
and other high-level senior managers recommended Mr. Peter as
the best-qualified applicant for the position of Director of Public
Works and Environmental Services.
As to the allegation that Mr. Peter was to retire at age 62, there is
simply no evidence of any such agreement either orally or in writing.
Mr. Peter recalled no conversation about an expected retirement date,
much less an oral or written agreement. Neither does current City
Manager Burgess Hanson, who assisted in the competitive recruitment
and selection process.
Mr. Peter’s duties changed considerably throughout his service to
the City, but they did not decrease until he helped orchestrate the
disestablishment of the Public Works Department as part of the 2011-
12 budget. Mr. Peter’s retirement was a known and expected result of
this organizational change. Mr. Peter served the City as a dedicated
public servant, and does not deserve to be impugned by baseless and
unsupported allegations.
Input 2
“The City lost the mediation over the firing of 106 City employees
without regard to the rules and regulations as outlined in the
employee’s handbook. Now the City has to rehire and pay back.
Instead of being terminated, the employee responsible for this
financial debacle was given a $40,000 raise in salary?”
RESPONSE:
Mike Milanowski, the City’s current Director of Human Resources,
had been onboard only two weeks when he reviewed and analyzed the
City’s plans for conducting the 2010 layoffs of 80 part-time and 26
full-time City employees. Mr. Milanowski then closely monitored the
effectuation of those layoffs.
The arbitration brought by the International Union of Painters and
Allied Trades (IUPAT) concluded with an arbitrator’s decision and
award that upheld the City’s reasoning for the layoffs, upheld the
layoff of the 80 part-time employees in their entirety, and upheld the
layoff of 25 of the 26 full-time employees who were laid off.
Rather than continue the arbitration process and incur considerable
additional costs to defend the belief that the City had followed all
applicable rules in the layoff of the single employee identified by the
arbitrator, City Management opted to return that employee without
further objection.
Input 3
“$40,000 increases in salary seem to be the favorite number.
Keven Klopp was hired by Mahaney, as CRA Director, with a
salary of $80,000. He got an increase of $40,000 when he became
the Assistant City Manager. As CRA Director, he also has an
Assistant CRA Director, and a Project Manager. And yet other
CRA Directors will tell you that it is unethical to take any job with
the same municipality that you serve as the CRA Director?”
RESPONSE:
Mr. Klopp was not given a $40,000 increase for assuming the duties
of Assistant City Manager. He was hired as the City’s CRA Director/
Economic Development Manager with a salary of $86,000, and
received an increase of $14,499 upon accepting the position of Acting
Assistant City Manager. When the position transitioned to a permanent
status, he received a final competitive salary of $120,000. His
salary in a tri-capacity position is lower than the salaries of many
single-capacity Assistant City Managers in similarly-sized cities in
South Florida and is $52,000 lower than the salary of the previous
Assistant City Manager under the former City Manager.
The accusation that Mr. Klopp engaged in unethical and unprofessional
behavior in accepting this role is absurd, and is a biased and
pathetic effort to defame both Mr. Klopp and the City. Multi-capacity
positions are a common practice among local governments. The City
Attorney and external auditors have carefully scrutinized Mr. Klopp’s
position, and have found no legal, professional or ethical basis on
which to discontinue a practice that benefits the city.
Input 4
“In the 13 years that I served as Mayor, I had four City
Managers, none of whom had an assistant. Although our population
was smaller, we had our own police and fire departments
most of the time. Now, 50 percent of our budget is handled by BSO.
So why do we have a Manager, an Assistant City Manager, an
Assistant to the City Manager, an Executive Assistant to the City
Manager, and an Administrative Support Specialist?”
RESPONSE:
In the 1980s, when this resident served as Mayor, the City’s
population was less than half of what it is today. Today, local
government operations have become exponentially much more complicated.
Regardless of whether the services are provided internally or
by the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO), the City Manager is still
responsible for overseeing the law enforcement and fire-rescue service
operations for a city of 76,000 residents. The staff of the City
Manager’s office is also essential to ensuring that all aspects of city
operations run smoothly.
During this City Manager’s tenure, several department directors
and other senior-level managers either retired or left City service.
Those positions were filled at much lower salaries, amounting to a
savings in excess of $240,000 per year. One position has been
eliminated entirely in the City Manager’s office.
In addition, all City employees whose pay exceeded the maximum
of their salary grade were reduced back to the appropriate salary range.
In at least one instance, this resulted in a Department Director’s pay
being reduced by more than $16,000. Non-unionized City employees
have not received merit or cost-of-living increases since 2008.
Input 5
“According to an article [which ran in a local newspaper] (not
the Observer), the City wants to squeeze some money from the City
employees since the City did not get all of the $1.2 million they
originally budgeted, and they plan to hire an attorney to sue the
employees. Why?”
RESPONSE:
The City Budget for Fiscal Year 2011-12 was predicated on the fact
that the pay of all City employees would be reduced by 5 percent and
that every City employee would be required to pay 10 percent of the
cost of his/her individual health insurance coverage. Without these
economic concessions, the City would not have been able to reduce the
millage rate by the 1 mill it was reduced, effective Oct. 1, 2011.
However, because of collective bargaining that was deliberately
stalled by the 29 employees represented by a newly formed union of
mid-level managers and supervisors, and due to the disavowal of an
affirmative ratification vote on a labor agreement, the above-detailed
economic concessions could not be implemented on Oct. 1, 2011.
The article to which this resident referred was an inaccurate and
incomplete report on a hearing before a Special Magistrate, who was
appointed to provide his recommendations regarding the impasse in
collective bargaining between the union and the City. There is no truth
to the assertion that the City plans to hire an attorney to sue the
employees represented by this union.
Input 6
“We were told that the main reason for the merger with BSO was
so the City could get out of the pension business. Yet, over a hundred
of the firefighters chose to stay in the City’s defined pension plan.
The City will eventually be out of the pension business, but it might
take 60 or 70 years to do it. And just why did the merger with BSO
have to take place so fast and without public input?”
RESPONSE:
There were a number of important reasons for the transition of fire/
rescue services to the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO). Interestingly
enough, this resident was actually very supportive of the merger until
the IAFF Union President, a close family friend, was removed by the
Union.
While not the only reason, the closure of the Deerfield Beach
Firefighters’ Pension Plan was one of the main reasons in support of
the transition to BSO. Nearly half of the Fire-Rescue Department’s
workforce had the potential to retire within the next five years. If the
plan had remained open, all of the personnel hired to replace the
retiring employees would have been in the City Firefighters’ Pension
Plan, meaning that the City would have to continue funding the
Pension Plan much further into the future than the time it will now take
for the Pension Plan to expire.
The City was advised both by our labor counsel and by attorneys
specializing in public-sector pension plans to close the Pension Plan
as soon as possible, thereby limiting entry by new employees into the
Pension Plan.
Florida law requires that existing employees in the Pension Plan
(even after their transition to the BSO) be allowed to remain in the
City’s Pension Plan until their retirement. The very best the City could
do in controlling the cost of the Firefighters’ Pension Plan was to close
the Pension Plan to new employees, benefit from the favorable
actuarial assumptions that would apply to a “closed” vs. “open”
Pension Plan and, in the course of time, eventually have the Pension
Plan expire.
The resident alleges that the transition to the BSO was to save more
than $2 million. A more accurate account of savings would be close
to $1.5 million in the first year of the contract. While not actually
reflected in the City’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2011-12, the cash
savings were earmarked by a consensus of the City Commission to be
used either to replenish the City’s Fund Balance or hire more BSO
deputies.
Still another $1.5 million in cost avoidance was produced by the
transition to BSO in fully staffing one existing fire station, opening a
new fire station along South Powerline Road, and avoiding the
purchase of telecommunications equipment that was over 25 years old
in the City’s former Dispatch Communications Center.
Conclusion
We trust that the information and responses to this resident’s input
will provide a much more accurate and true understanding of the
professionalism, responsiveness, efficiency and effectiveness with
which the City is run by the Deerfield Beach City Commission and City
Management.
Deerfield Beach City Commission

RE: Lighting up that intersection

Dear Editor:

How does one put a price on a human life?

Thetus Fleming, age 22, was killed in a hit-and-run accident  on Hillsboro Boulevard [east of MLK].

Anyone who travels that route will have to admit that the lighting in the evening hours is substandard at best. A left-turn signal was denied by FDOT. Why didn’t the city pursue the second alternative, which was to increase the lighting at that intersection? Lack of funding is not an acceptable response when someone has been killed.

When the CRA finished The Cove Shopping Center, they neglected to provide the outlets on the poles for lighting the complex for the holidays. They had to purchase a [circuit board] that has as its sole purpose lighting a Christmas tree. More important than a human life?

There are FPL light polls at the MLK intersection, and the requirement for additional lighting would be also adding transformers and lights. The cost for such a project would be anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000.

Where should the money come from for the transformers and lights at MLK?

The city is assessing users of electricity as a result of the passage of the utility tax. That tax should generate approximately $4.9 million by the end of the fiscal year. We heard that the public service [= utility] tax was to be used to reduce the millage by 1 mill. That would only have required $4,622,065, but the budget added $6,201,100 as the combined income from the water and electric assessments.

If it is necessary to maintain those figures in the budget, and the city is complaining about not getting the $1.2 million from the employees, then the next step would be to use the $2 million savings from the BSO merger. That money was never part of the adopted budget, but is supposed to come to the city by the end of this fiscal year.

Don’t tell the taxpayers that a human life in the city of Deerfield is not worth an expenditure of $3,000 to $5,000 to light up that intersection like a Christmas tree.

Jean Robb

Deerfield Beach

RE: Are political parties dangerous?

Dear Editor:

I just read Jim Moore’s article about George Washington and his thoughts for a Return to America as it should be.[3-22 Observer Opinion pg.] This article, in my opinion, should go national. Every concerned American needs to read this and remember it come voting time.

N. Monaco

Deerfield Beach

Safety measures needed at District 2 intersection!

Dear Editor:

Since October 2011, the city of Deerfield Beach and FDOT [Florida Dept. of Transportation] have respectively been petitioned to install pedestrian/bicyclist/motorist safety precautions at the intersection of Hillsboro Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (MLK), located in the minority section of the city (District 2).

The city has denied request, indicating that (1) it’s too expensive and they may look into it in the future, (2) it is not their responsibility because it falls under the jurisdiction of FDOT.

FDOT originally approved a “citizen request” to install the yellow truncated domes at the intersection, but through city of Deerfield Beach interference, FDOT reneged on their original approval.

Subsequent citizen requests were submitted to FDOT to install street lights, which they temporarily denied, indicating that they will look into it no sooner than November 2012 for work to be done in 2015.

Another request was submitted for East/West turning signals off of MLK, which was originally denied, citing “statistical deficiency,” so installation not warranted.

They have recently decided to perform an on-site observational study to determine if the turning signal installation is warranted.

A video demonstrates the dark conditions at the intersection of MLK and Hillsboro, driving south to north on MLK, which could have been one of the causal factors in the hit-and-run death of Thetus Fleming Jr. (22, black male) on 2/17/12, which received zero media coverage. [Story in p.1 coverage of District 2 meeting, March 1 Observer.]

The driver, David Calderilla Alcocer (20, white male), who was driving on a suspended license, had warrants for his arrest, pending Broward County Court traffic court case from 2008, and intentionally left the scene of an accident (a felony in FL- 1st degree felony if the accident resulted in a death, like in this case).

He did later return to give BSO a statement (from the initial police report and BSO media release, he returned about 30 minutes later).

However, David Calderilla Alcocer was never arrested by BSO to face charges for hitting and then leaving the scene of the accident resulting the death of Thetus Fleming Jr.

His family is looking for justice and would like FDOT and the city of Deerfield Beach to install safety measures at that intersection so no other family has to go through the tragedy they are going through.

David Cody

Deerfield Beach

Watch out where you park

Dear Editor:

There is an empty lot (no house) on SE 7 Street, Deerfield Beach, just off of Ocean Drive. There are several parking spaces, marked by lines. On the right side, covered by grass, next to them is vacant space for at least three more cars (not lined).

The complaint is that people who have parked in this space received a parking ticket. In one instance, a car was parked in the LINED SPOT, but two wheels were on that grassy spot. The owner was also ticketed.

The car to his left was too close to him, so he reparked and then his right wheels ended up on the grass.

I, and all the people I have spoken to, agree that the city should put up a sign “NO PARKING ON THE GRASS,” only in marked spots.

—A Concerned citizen

Hans Paetzold

Deerfield Beach

Remembering Karen

Dear Editor: 

I deeply regret that I am not able to attend the service for my friend Karen Rice.  Poets and noted authors have used descriptive words of endearment throughout history to describe the word “friend.”  I would like to take the liberty of defining the friendship that I found with Karen.

I am first of all grateful that our last phone conversation shared some words of encouragement and ended with the words, “I love you.”  I loved Karen.  Our friendship was not defined by agreeing on everything. Actually, we often had different agendas, but always knew that we could call on one another at any time, day or night, to share our hearts, our fears, our joys, and our commitment to trusting each other with the deepest concerns of our hearts.

I remember when Karen was looking for part-time work, I suggested she check our Observer newspaper for sales.  She had the energy, the smarts, and the commitment to making some extra money.  It was a win-win situation, and, after 20 years, she worked until her little body couldn’t.

I remember when I was teaching aerobics at the church, and Karen again took a leadership role in the classes.  She was a high-energy type of soul, and, even when her babies were born, she toted them to class in their carry-on seats.  As the children grew, they were the first thing she talked about when we got together.  I know she was proud of them, and, more than that, I know how much they were loved.

After I moved to Virginia, I would always try and catch up with the old gang on my return visits to Florida to spend time with my mother and family.  We had all experienced some mountain tops and valleys in our lives. Yet, there was something that kept us together… and that is “friendship.”  It doesn’t define itself by borders, judgment, or time and space.  It is true and can always be counted on.  It means you can trust me with your heart, and I will share my life with you, the good and the bad.  The masks come off, and the soul is revealed.

Perhaps, some of our most intimate conversations were faith-based.  I told her often that I was praying for her, and, in my heart, I believe she felt a sense of peace, knowing that I kept her in prayer.  I know that Karen knew faith is really all we have that is truly meaningful.  Everything else will pass away.  Our bodies will age, sickness can be our enemy, and material things are still just things.  All things shall pass away, but the love of the Lord and that spirit that lives within our souls does endure the test of time.

So my precious Karen, I know you are whole again.  No more pain, no more regrets, no more what-ifs.  You have seen the face of Jesus, and He is now your counselor. Your redeemer. Your prince of peace. Your savior and friend.  You are in His presence, dear one, and I personally rejoice in knowing that.

Perhaps the greatest gift we can give our friends is knowing that we will share eternity with them.  It is “good-bye for now,” but I know we will meet again.  I will always love you.

Your friend for eternity,

Carol Ann Draper

To change [or not change] the date  of next Deerfield election

Dear Editor:

Time is of the essence. Some member of the commission has to step up to schedule a vote in the upcoming city election. Right now, the mayor and the commissioners from Districts 3 and 4 have to run for re-election on March 13, 2013 at a cost of $67,000.

The commission has the authority to make a change in that date. They can call for the election to take place on Nov. 6, 2012. This is the same date on which the voters will be electing a president. This change would cost the city in the neighborhood of $20,000 or less. The city would save almost $50,000 and would also see a greater number of city voters than we have seen in the past.

Although there are 42,000 registered voters in Deerfield Beach, fewer than 6,000 voted in the last city election. This hardly makes for representative government.

I plan to put the proposition of the date change to the commission at the meeting on March 6.

It will be interesting to see whether the commission takes some positive action. I do believe that if they do not take the opportunity to save $50,000 and have a greater proportion of voter participation, their lack of concern will surface at the next election.

Steve Krevoy

Deerfield Beach

Deerfield — part of Boca?

Dear Editor:

I enjoy reading Mr. Eller [the publisher’s] History of Deerfield. My great grandfather, Tom Bennett, purchased a plat of land at auction in Deerfield in 1927.

During a land search, it was discovered that this section of Deerfield was once considered Boca Raton. Will you please share the history of North Deerfield and PLEASE include the history of the bridge that once connected North Deerfield with Boca Raton?

Pamela Johnson

Deerfield Beach

Publishers note: Thanks Pamela for your letter. As you mention, Deerfield used to be part of Palm Beach County before Broward County existed. To get the complete story, go to www.broward.org/library/history and click on “A short history of Broward County.”

Extra “Thank you” from Founders’ Days

Dear Editor:

Last week, the Observer printed a “thank you” letter from the Deerfield Beach Founders’ Days Committee that listed the festival’s 2012 sponsors. We did wish to thank JM Lexus, which provided vehicles for our parade.

Yet in error, we left out a very important sponsor, JM Family, which not only contributed to the 2012 festival, but also supports many worthy causes throughout our community.

So, at this time, we wish to thank JM Family for their generous sponsorship and financial support.

Thank you,

Founders’ Days Committee

Deerfield Beach

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”— Parks & Recreation

Dear Editor:

Why fix something that isn’t broken — Parks and Recreation of Deerfield Beach?

Five years ago, I started my first 10-week boot camp session through the Parks and Rec. of Deerfield Beach. At the time, my goal was to get in shape and the instructor didn’t seem to matter. My opinion has changed. Since then, I have lost 10 lbs. and am in the best shape of my 47 years. I truly believe it is due to the nature of the instructor.

Six months ago, my sons wanted to join a gym, so my husband and I tried the gym’s boot camp classes. Before long, I was making every excuse to miss the classes. That was my wake-up call. I discovered, not all “boot camp” instructors are created equal and we went back to our “tried and true” instructor, Blaise.

Over the years, I have heard some bad jokes that make me laugh and developed camaraderie with many other people my age, but in the end, my husband and I go to the Deerfield Parks and Rec. boot camp because of Blaise.

He may not know this, but I often think to myself, if he cares enough to come out three days a week on his own time, then so can I.

In addition, I don’t recall attending a city-sponsored event that my family didn’t run into him at one time or another.

At our Saturday class, I found out that after all these years, he is being replaced.

If the leadership at the Parks and Recreation division thinks it can find a unique, dedicated and irreplaceable employee like Blaise, they are in the wrong division. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t love the guy. But don’t take my word for it, do your homework.

People, like Blaise, who have dedicated their adult lives to this city and truly love our city, should be respected.

I am living proof; this man is special and shouldn’t be pushed aside and discarded for a new agenda.

Of course, the first question I ask myself is, “Why?”
Why would anyone want to replace Blaise?

I say, “Let Blaise continue to motivate!” For all of those who feel the same way, let our recreation department know, “It isn’t broken!”

Angela Jacques

Deerfield Beach  

Save our view;  Keep dune vegetation off beach

Dear Editor:

I heard a disturbing thing at the commission meeting [two weeks ago]. It seems the city is trying to win a grant of $30,000 to which they will have to add their own matching amount to total $60,000.

What’s so disturbing about that — you might wonder? That’s better than Publix’s ketchup 2 for 1 sale.

Well, it’s what the assistant city manager said he wanted to do with the money that is disturbing. He wants to put plantings on our main beach grassy area. In patches, he said. Not everywhere.

This was tried before, and the public uproar put an end to it.

This would be a disaster for our lovely beach view.

If you doubt that, go to the south end of the beach and look at the dunes there. The sea oats and other plantings are growing, spreading, vigorously and TALL. Sit on a bench there or walk on the sidewalk and you see grass, not ocean.

If patches were placed on our main beach it would eliminate places to sit, but worse, the patches will spread to the rest of the beach. After all, sea oats and other plantings of the kind are basically hardy weeds. We know how well plants grow in our climate. I stuck a pencil in the ground and it grew. And, according to regulations, once you put plants on the beach, you will not be allowed to remove them.

Our main beach is what Deerfield Beach is all about. It is our bragging right, our main attraction, the reason we say proudly, “I live in Deerfield Beach, yes, the one with the beautiful beach … Right, Deerfield Beach, the place where you can sit in the shade of a Palm tree on a grassy hill and not get all sandy.”

These plantings, as anyone with half a brain would see, will not help with the erosion of the beach. The beach is not eroding up along the grass line, it is eroding at the water line.

These plantings will not prevent the sand, on stormy or hurricane days, from blowing across the grass and road. The wind is much higher and stronger than the grass so these plantings will not eliminate the need to string the black fabric sand fences.

AND, the damage to the view of our beach would be so devastating to the enjoyment of our beach and our view that it wouldn’t, under any circumstances, be worth the loss. The clean-up costs are just the price we pay for the beautiful view.

Use the money to put the required plantings around the new pier restoration. We have to put plants in along there, add some plants to the south beach dunes, they are an eyesore anyway. Add plantings along the back of JBs and Ocean’s 234.

Bett Willett

Deerfield Beach

Reasons to change date of next election

Dear Editor:

On Feb. 8, I celebrated my 80th birthday. I tell you this to emphasize the fact that I have been in Deerfield for 54 years, and I have seen the municipal elections change from time to time. So it is not as though there is not history in making changes.

I do believe that this [city] commission has been sincere in attempting to save the taxpayers money. I am sure that the Supervisor of Elections can ascertain the differences in costs.

The proposal I am making would not only be a cost saver, but it would also have more voter participation as a goal.

That is why I think you should consider moving the next municipal election from March [2013] to November 2012, to coincide with the next presidential election.

We have 42,000 registered voters in the city of Deerfield Beach.  When we attempted our Rescind the Unfair Taxes, we collected over 7,000 signatures from registered voters. That number was more than voted in the last municipal election. Hopefully, if we change to coincide with the presidential election, we will see an increase in local participation.

This change could be formulated to have those who are incumbents but are not re-elected hold their seats until the installation date in March. The president is elected in November but is not installed into office until January, so this is not an unusual concept.

It has been suggested that those not re-elected would be lame ducks and could do a great deal of damage in the interim. It still takes three votes to do anything, so let’s hope that there are at least three who really want what is best for the city and that they would prevail.

According to 6.01 in the Deerfield city charter, the city commission, by ordinance and subject to the provisions of the Constitution and laws of Florida, Broward County, and this charter, shall have the power to call for regular and special elections as may be required for the city and to make all necessary regulations for the conduct thereof.

The commission has the power to make this change. Call City Hall at 954-480-4262 and voice your opinion.

Jean Robb                                                                                                                                            

Deerfield Beach

Editor’s note: According to Mary Cooney from Brenda Snipes office, based on a cost estimate for another city with the same number of precincts [38] as Deerfield:

Projected cost for the regularly-scheduled election on March 13, 2013 is just under $67,000.

There were no comparables for a Nov. 6, 2012 election with a city with the same number of precincts. However, for a city with 32 precincts, estimated cost of a Nov. 6, 2012 election would be just under $20,000.

Reader’s faith rewarded

Dear Editor:

I had one of those warm experiences where my faith and hope in people was rewarded. A young mother and two lovely little girls appeared at my door with my wallet. They had found it where I was sitting at a local mall. The mom took it upon herself to find my address by Googling on her smart phone and made her way to our gated community, at some kind of inconvenience to her, and presented me with the wallet. She is a good person. Her lovely children were schooled beyond mere words on doing the right thing. She is society’s hero. Her daughter noticed my Korean War discharge and demonstrated what they have learned in her school about Veterans and service to country. God bless that family.

Donald J. Butler

16 Keswick A, Deerfield Beach

Support for Cub Scouts

Dear Editor:

As the new Cub Scout Master of Deerfield Pack 119, I am trying my hardest to revive this pack. We have a solid core of good kids and parents, but, because we are new, we basically have no funds. We wanted to use the pavilion in the Villages of Hillsboro Park to do a fun day on the basics of camping. We put in a request to city commissioners to have the $116 fee waived. This request was denied.

Upon hearing this, Chad [Brocato], the Fire Chief, who is also President of the Kiwanis Club, stepped up, without even being asked, and paid the fee for the Pack. Representatives from Keith and Associates were also at the meeting and were dismayed as well that the request was denied.

They, in turn, then wrote a check to the Kiwanis to reimburse them!

There is no way I can adequately express how thankful I am to both of these associations. It is so nice to hear of support and endorsement of the Scouts. It is a wonderful organization that truly teaches life skills that will benefit both the boys and the communities they live in.

I just wanted to publicly thank both of these groups for their extreme kindness and generosity.

Sal Biviano

Deerfield Beach

If any boys, 6-17, would like to get involved in Scouts, they can call me at 954-675-5683. Thank you!